The two-day Federal Reserved meeting scheduled for this month begins tomorrow and its advent has driven European and U.S. equity futures down along with silver. A slower-than-anticipated growth in Chinese manufacturing has sent Asian stocks near a three-month low as the yen strengthened.
Euro Stoxx 50 Index futures dropped 0.2 percent while Standard & Poor’s 500 Index contracts slipped 0.4 percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.6 percent and Japan’s Topix lost 1.3 percent as the yen gained against all 16 of its major trading peers. Gold and silver declined by at least 0.2 percent and natural gas lost 1.4 percent. Only Brent cruse gained 0.4 percent with rebels refusing to open the ports of Libya.
With the U.S. economy and the job market showing signs of improvement and following the bipartisan budget passed by lawmakers, economists foresee a greater possibility that the Fed will start tapering stimulus soon. Today’s reports may show increased manufacturing in both the U.S. and the euro region.
THe market has been anticipating the tapering for a while down and some consider that the Chinese economy will drop its pace even more, reaching more sustainable levels.